On Wed, 6 Sep 2000, Tom Holub wrote: > The patent process is meant to stimulate technological development by > allowing companies/inventors time to recoup the costs of development. The patent process is controlled by intellectual property lawyers. The purpose of the patent process is to make money for IP lawyers. They do this by allowing a company to patent every conceivable thought that one of their employees has, as well as the unpatented/patented thoughts of other companies. Companies then sue each other, with the patents being a mere excuse created by the patent office's IP lawyers. These lawsuits allow a bigger company to beat a smaller company with attrition. Both companies have their money drained into the pockets of IP lawyers until the smaller company runs out. The IP lawyers, who are the ones running the patent office and creating IP law, like this system they have created very much.